In this emotionally gripping episode of THE TRIALS OF WOMAN, an archivist finds herself in a desperate race against time beneath the streets of New Orleans. As a historic museum prepares for a "Grand Renovation," centuries of African American history are labeled as "surplus" and marked for destruction. Working in the suffocating silence of a basement vault, she uncovers the Ledger of Lost Souls—a chilling record of women sold at the city's docks whose names were nearly bleached from the narrative of history. With the ticking clock of a demolition crew looming, she must decide how much she is willing to risk to give the dead back their dignity and ensure that names like Zilpha, Phebe, and Adelaide are never forgotten.

This first-person narrative explores the weight of the archives and the personal cost of bearing witness to a painful past. As the footsteps of those who wish to bury the truth grow louder, the story transforms into a high-stakes rescue mission for the sake of ancestral memory. It is a powerful meditation on the struggle to preserve Black history in America and the quiet, defiant acts of resistance that keep legacies alive. Listen to a story of partial victories and heavy truths, where the act of remembering becomes the ultimate tool against erasure.